Page:Radio-active substances.djvu/74

 to these bodies their thermo-luminescent property. Fluorite when heated undergoes a change, which is accompanied by the emission of light. If the fluorite is afterwards subjected to the action of radium, an inverse change occurs, which is also accompanied by an emission of light.

An absolutely similar phenomenon occurs when glass is exposed to radium rays. Here also a change is produced in the glass while luminous from the effect of the radium rays; this change shows itself in the colouration which appears and gradually increases. If the glass is afterwards heated, the inverse change takes place, the colour disappears, and this phenomenon is accompanied by production of light. It appears very probable that we have here a change of a chemical nature, and the production of light is associated with this change. This phenomenon may be general. It might be that the production of fluorescence by the action of radium and the luminosity of radium compounds is of necessity associated with some chemical or physical change in the substance emitting the light.

Radiographs.—The radiographic action of the new radioactive bodies is very marked. However, the method of operating should be very different with polonium and radium. Polonium acts only at very short distances, and its action is considerably weakened by solid screens; it is practically annihilated by means of a screen of slight thickness (1 m.m. of glass). Radium acts at considerably greater distances. The radiographic action of radium rays may be observed at more than 2 m. distance in air, even when the active product is enclosed in a glass vessel. The rays acting under these conditions belong to the β- and γ-groups. Owing to the differences in transparency of different materials to the rays, radiographs of different objects may be obtained, as in the case of Röntgen rays. Metals are, as a rule, opaque, with the exception of aluminium, which is very transparent. There is no noteworthy difference of transparency between flesh and bone. The operation may be carried on at a great distance and with a source of very small dimensions; and very delicate radiographs are thus produced. The beauty of the radiograph is enhanced by deflecting to one side the β-rays, by means of a magnetic field, and utilising only the γ-rays. The β-rays, in traversing the object to be radiographed, undergo a certain amount of diffusion, and thus cause a slight fog. In suppressing them, a longer time of exposure is necessary, but better results are obtained. The radiograph of an object, such as a purse, requires one day with a